The list of countries that the Sino-Pakistan joint venture is targeting for sales is expanding fast: it reportedly alsoincludes Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Congo, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, thePhilippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
At Farnborough, joint-venture partners Catic and PAC described the JF-17 as a multi-role light fighter with an “outstanding performance-to-cost ratio.” The two aircraft on display were ferried to Farnborough but did not fly during the show, and officials were reluctant to allow journalists into the cockpit toview the three multifunction displays plus head-up display, HOTAS(hands on throttle and stick) and other avionics. The aircraft wereshown with PL-5II IR-guided air-to-air missiles on wingtip rails andferry tanks on the centerline and inner wing stations, leaving theouter wing stations unloaded. Mockups of five Chinese stores weredisplayed next to the aircraft: a C802A anti-ship missile; an SD-10Aactive radar-guided air-to-air missile; an LS-6 glide bomb; a WMD-7targeting pod; and a KG300G electronic warfare pod.
Program officials said that a developmentJF-17 is now flying in China with a Chinese-developed engine,presumably the WS-13 Taishan. All other JF-17s arepowered by the Russian-supplied RD-93 turbofan. On the eve ofFarnborough, a Russian newspaper reported the opposition of Sukhoi andMiG director-general Mikhail Pogosian to a further sale of RD-93s toChina because the JF-17 is competing with the MiG-29 for export sales.At the show, however, Russian officials, including Pogosian, playeddown this concern.
